Taxi conversation monitored in Beijing

If you are now in Beijing, and need to take a taxi, watch out! Every word you say in the taxi will be monitored by the police.

To enhance the security in the run up to National Day on 1 October, a secret machine is now installed in each of the taxis in Beijing to monitor conversation, according to Hong Kong newspaper Mingpao. The machine is connected through satellite and GPS to the police intelligence centre so every word you say will be listened.

Naturally, the authority will not announce this to its people – keeping them in dark so that those needed to be caught can be caught.

Why is it that a country that calls itself People’s Republic can be so afraid of its people and so secretive towards its people?